Travel giant that canceled tours now faces legal action

Airlines and agencies were left struggling to reassure customers after the tour operator filed for bankruptcy.

Apr 21, 2025 - 15:13

Travel giant that canceled tours now faces legal action

At one point, Europe's third-largest operator of group tours, FTI Touristik GmbH, filed for insolvency protection in German court in the summer of 2024.

The parent travel company behind brands like FTI Touristik and 5vorFlug claimed that as "booking figures have fallen well short of expectations," it would have to cease operations and immediately cancel over 175,000 upcoming tours out of Germany and nearby countries such as Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands that year.

Launched in 1983 and similar in scope to companies like Contiki or EF Educational Tours in the U.S., FTI was a common name Germans used to book tours both to popular holiday destinations like Türkiye and Spain and off-the-beaten-path countries such as Botswana and Mongolia.

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Tour company once considered 'too big to fail' suddenly shut down operations

The FTI bankruptcy sent shockwaves through the European travel space as the brand was often considered "too big to fail." It had just, in April 2024, secured €125 million in new funding from a coalition of investors.

But just a few months later, CEO Karl Markgraf said that "an increased need for liquidity [...] could no longer be bridged until the closing of the investor process."

After the company suddenly ceased operations on July 6 of last year, travel agencies and airlines that worked with it were left having to issue sudden refunds and otherwise deal with customers who had tours booked. The insolvency announcement affected over 65,000 travelers, while over 11,000 FTI employees across Europe were also suddenly left without jobs.

Now nearly a year past the bankruptcy announcement, many agencies still report waiting to be compensated for the losses they sustained having to refund travelers and get some who were already on trips back home.

FTI Touristik offered organized tours to destinations such as Bali and Thailand.
Image source: Shutterstock

'In many cases no payments have been made'

"Although Austrian travel agencies submitted all customer data requested by the DRSF months ago – often via multiple channels, online and by mail – even ten months after the FTI bankruptcy, in many cases no payments have been made by the DRSF," Gregor Kadanka, chairman of the Association of Travel Agencies in the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, said in a press release.

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According to German law, situations in which a company customers have booked travel with goes bankrupt is covered by the German Travel Security Fund (DRSF), a government regulatory branch overseeing package holidays.

A situation that fell between different agencies concerns operators that made pre-payments on behalf of their clients shortly before the insolvency was announced.

While FTI established a hotline for compensation submissions and support in the wake of the bankruptcy, agencies have reported a frustrating and labor-intensive process of securing any kind of compensation. Kadanka said that after months of no communication from FTI, several agencies received requests for documents they had already submitted.

As a result, he said the Association of Travel Agencies is now considering pursuing legal action against FTI Touristik as a last-ditch effort to recoup some of their losses. FTI representatives could not be reached for comment by TheStreet.

"The travel agencies are not responsible for the delays," Kadanka said further.